He first exhibited publicly in 19183 and was planning to exhibit a suite of self-portraits at the Art Institute of Chicago when he died in 1983.4 Although he considered himself a painter first, he worked in a great variety of media. Further study of his notebooks, writing, correspondence, and the art itself reveals a range and depth that is far more complex than has been supposed.Ī prolific but exacting artist, Ivan Albright’s career spanned seven decades of the twentieth century. Albright considered this Hollywood commission an amusing episode and digression from his serious work, yet it has remained synonymous with his artistic identity. What exists suffers from a lack of critical focus and a reluctance to interpret or provide a context for his small but complicated body of work.1 Popular opinion on Albright perceives him as a missionary of doom and gloom who focused exclusively on decay and strove to project the physiology of death upon the living.2 To support this reputation many invoke Albright’s 1943 commission to paint the grotesque portrait of Dorian Gray for the MGM film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel. Such perceptions are partly due to Albright’s own carefully constructed professional identity but mostly result from his having attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention. Unaffected by the world around him, influencing no one and devoid of external artistic contamination he pursued an intensely personal vision.

Remembered as an anachronistic curiosity or a formally introverted eccentric, who had little to do with his contemporaries, Albright’s work is generally portrayed as existing in a vacuum. © Illinois Historical Art Projectīecause he seems to bear no resemblance in style or idea to the popular history of 20th century art, Ivan Albright (1897-1983) has been considered a problematic and difficult artist.

Another Shore by George Hitchcock